Faye, Faraway


Helen Fisher - 2021
    Every night, before she puts them to bed, she whispers to them: “You are good, you are kind, you are clever, you are funny.” She’s determined that they never doubt for a minute that their mother loves them unconditionally. After all, her own mother Jeanie had died when she was only seven years old and Faye has never gotten over that intense pain of losing her.But one day, her life is turned upside down when she finds herself in 1977, the year before her mother died. Suddenly, she has the chance to reconnect with her long-lost mother, and even meets her own younger self, a little girl she can barely remember. Jeanie doesn’t recognize Faye as her daughter, of course, even though there is something eerily familiar about her...As the two women become close friends, they share many secrets—but Faye is terrified of revealing the truth about her identity. Will it prevent her from returning to her own time and her beloved husband and daughters? What if she’s doomed to remain in the past forever? Faye knows that eventually she will have to choose between those she loves in the past and those she loves in the here and now, and that knowledge presents her with an impossible choice.Emotionally gripping and ineffably sweet Faye, Faraway is a brilliant exploration of the grief associated with unimaginable loss and the magic of being healed by love.

Ninth City Burning


J. Patrick Black - 2016
    When an alien race came to make Earth theirs, they brought with them a weapon we had no way to fight, a universe-altering force known as thelemity. It seemed nothing could stop it—until we discovered we could wield the power too.Five hundred years later, the Earth is locked in a grinding war of attrition. The talented few capable of bending thelemity to their will are trained in elite military academies, destined for the front lines. Those who refused to support the war have been exiled to the wilds of a ruined Earth.But the enemy's tactics are changing, and Earth's defenders are about to discover this centuries-old war has only just begun. As a terrible new onslaught looms, heroes will rise from unlikely quarters, and fight back.

Rune of the Apprentice


Jamison Stone - 2016
    All believe that Aleksi, a sixteen-year-old orphan, was blessed to be born with a Rune embedded in his palm, but that’s only because they don’t know the truth―Aleksi’s Rune is so powerful it’s killing him.Asura, a brutal emperor who uses Runes to conquer entire continents, will stop at nothing to kill Aleksi and claim the boy’s power for his own. With Aleksi’s Rune burning its way through his body and assassins hunting his every step, his survival depends on discerning ally from enemy and learning to tame the competing forces of light and dark within.With the burden of his rune haunting his days and the prophetic whispers of a young captive priestess illuminating his nights, Aleksi will be able to unravel the mysteries of his past, rescue the girl in his dreams, and challenge the most powerful warlord the world has ever known only if the one thing keeping him alive―his Rune―does not kill him first.--From the Back Cover:AN ANCIENT CURSE COULD MEAN ULTIMATE POWER.BUT AT WHAT COST?"Stone has hit it out of the ballpark with this book, and you will not want to put it down." --Ben Greenfield, New York Times bestselling author of Beyond Training"An engaging story filled with magic, swordplay, and even pirates... Easy five stars." --Dave Barrett, author of It's All Fun and Games"The flowing prose is experienced rather than read--and done with vivid clarity. I'm highly anticipating the next in the series!" --J-F. Dubeau, author of The Life Engineered and A God in the Shed"I was on the edge of my seat, across oceans and over land, until the last page." --Zachary Tyler Linville, author of Welcome to Deadland"Absolutely the perfect universe to geek out over." --Rick Heinz, author of The Seventh Age: Dawn"A fresh superbly crafted fantasy epic that conquers both world and character building" --Tal M. Klein, author of The Punch Escrow

Under the Trees


Ashley Maker - 2014
    Her surprise at the unexpected hold the prince has on her heart mirrors his shock at falling for the one girl he can’t have. As the young couple’s feelings for each other grow, the fragile alliance between the two kingdoms threatens to break apart. With a vengeful duke and an enraged king fast on their trail, Thor and Araya must decide how much they’re willing to risk for love. Even if staying together means starting a war.

The Absinthe Earl


Sharon Lynn Fisher - 2019
    Their love will shatter worlds. Miss Ada Quicksilver, a student of London's Lovelace Academy for Promising Young Women, is spending her holiday in Ireland to pursue her anthropological study of fairies. She visits Dublin's absinthe bars to investigate a supposed association between the bittersweet spirit and fairy sightings.One night a handsome Irishman approaches her, introducing himself as Edward Donoghue. Edward takes absinthe to relieve his sleepwalking, and she is eager to hear whether he has experience with fairies. Instead, she discovers that he's the earl of Meath, and that he will soon visit a mysterious ruin at Newgrange on the orders of his cousin, the beautiful, half-mad Queen Isolde. On learning about Ada's area of study, he invites her to accompany him.Ada is torn between a sensible fear of becoming entangled with the clearly troubled gentleman and her compelling desire to ease his suffering. Finally she accepts his invitation, and they arrive in time for the winter solstice. That night, the secret of Edward's affliction is revealed: he is, in fact, a lord in two worlds and can no longer suppress his shadow self.Little does either of them realize that their blossoming friendship and slowly kindling passion will lead to discoveries that wrench open a door sealed for centuries, throwing them into a war that will change Ireland forever.

The Plainswalker


M.A. Rothman - 2021
    When the experiment leaves him stuck in a place he can’t escape, Peabo realizes just how unprepared he is for his new mission.-------STAG, the Special Technologies Analysis Group is a clandestine government operation headquartered fifty feet under Marine Base Quantico, and they’re looking for someone with the right stuff.Peabo Smith, an ex-Special Forces soldier volunteers to participate in a mission that gives him an opportunity to maybe get back into the action.THE PLAINSWALKER is a story about a former soldier asked to participate in a science experiment that rivals the audacity of the moon landing.When things don’t go quite like Peabo had planned, he realizes that the experiment may end up changing his life forever.

Blue Hearts of Mars


Nicole Grotepas - 2013
    The situation is rather ideal: he likes her, she likes him. There's just one little problem.He's a blue heart, an android.Being in a relationship is its own complicated mess, but how long can a forbidden love last? Soon Retta discovers a secret that could destroy the uneasy truce between the blue hearts and humans, which makes life under the domes on Mars possible. Would exposing what she knows make things better or worse? And how can she know for certain without exposing the secret?

Defenseless


Amy Jarecki - 2021
    Help his team win a bowl game, 2. Ace his exams and, most importantly, 3. Women are completely, utterly, and irrevocably off-limits.Strait-laced accounting major, Vivian Ellis, hasn't watched a complete game of football in her life. And when she receives her tutoring assignment, the last student she expects is Cade. Not only has the football star earned a reputation as the best looking heart-breaker on campus, his recent trial has made him notorious.But Cade is done with his past and he wants to prove it. When his teammates invite him to a celebration in his honor, he asks Vi to come along to keep the party-girls at bay. Except when Vi shows up without her glasses, she's as sexy-hot as a runway model. Worse, his tutor is as off-limits as any woman can get. As the season continues, sparks fly while their chemistry darts from simmering to scorching. Until everything is blown to hell. Challenged by hateful rumors and a devastating injury, will these star-crossed lovers find the mettle to get back in the game?

The First Girl Child


Amy Harmon - 2019
    Bartered, abandoned, and rarely loved, she plagued the land with her words: From this day forward, there will be no daughters in Saylok.Raised among the Keepers at Temple Hill, Bayr is gifted with inhuman strength. But he’s also blessed with an all-too-human heart that beats with one purpose: to protect Alba, the first girl child born in nearly two decades and the salvation for a country at risk.Now the fate of Saylok lies with Alba and Bayr, whose bond grows deeper with every whisper of coming chaos. Charged with battling the enemies of their people, both within and without, Bayr is fueled further by the love of a girl who has defied the scourge of Saylok.What Bayr and Alba don’t know is that they each threaten the king, a greedy man who built his throne on lies, murder, and betrayal. There is only one way to defend their land from the corruption that has overtaken it. By breaking the curse, they could defeat the king…but they could also destroy themselves.

Dreamland


Nancy Bilyeau - 2020
    Despite hailing from one of America’s richest families, Peggy would much rather spend the summer working at the Moonrise Bookstore than keeping up appearances with New York City socialites and her snobbish, controlling family.But soon it transpires that the hedonism of nearby Coney Island affords Peggy the freedom she has been yearning for, and it’s not long before she finds herself in love with a troubled pier-side artist of humble means, whom the Batternberg patriarchs would surely disapprove of. Disapprove they may, but hidden behind their pomposity lurks a web of deceit, betrayal and deadly secrets. And as bodies begin to mount up amidst the sweltering clamour of Coney Island, it seems the powerful Batternbergs can get away with anything…even murder.Extravagant, intoxicating and thumping with suspense, bestselling Nancy Bilyeau’s magnificent Dreamland is a story of corruption, class and dangerous obsession.

Tell Me an Ending


Jo Harkin - 2022
    Now they are being given an opportunity to get that memory back. Four individuals are filled with new doubts, grappling with the unexpected question of whether to remember unknown events, or to leave them buried forever.Finn, an Irish architect living in the Arizona desert, begins to suspect his charming wife of having an affair. Mei, a troubled grad school dropout in Kuala Lumpur, wonders why she remembers a city she has never visited. William, a former police inspector in England, struggles with PTSD, the breakdown of his marriage, and his own secret family history. Oscar, a handsome young man with almost no memories at all, travels the world in a constant state of fear.Into these characters’ lives comes Noor, a psychologist working at the Nepenthe memory removal clinic in London. The process of reinstating patients’ memories begins to shake the moral foundations of her world. As she delves deeper into how the program works, she will have to risk everything to uncover the cost of this miraculous technology.A provocative exploration of secrets, grief, and identity—of the stories we tell ourselves—Tell Me an Ending is a sharp, dark, and devastating novel about the power of memory.

The Time Seer


Richard Phillips - 2020
    Never far from Kragan’s evil grasp, she is struck down by his wicked spell.Carol’s assassin husband, Arn, has no choice but to cast aside his precious weapon to embrace a more powerful one: the clairvoyance he shares with Carol. With time-sights linked, they must now rely on the dreamscapes of their minds to track Kragan into the shadows as he nears his own invaluable weapon: the legendary shattered trident, which will ensure him godlike powers. But Carol and Arn’s visions come at a cost. Pursuit into such abominable darkness is leading to madness.As Kragan’s armies amass for a raging war between good and evil, Carol fears that the ancient prophecy she’s been chosen to bear out may be impossible to survive.

Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space


Zoraida CórdovaYamile Saied Méndez - 2022
    From princesses warring in space, to the all too-near devastation of climate change, to haunting ghost stories in Argentina, and mermaids off the coast of the Caribbean. This is science fiction and fantasy that breaks borders and realms, and proves that stories are truly universal.Authors include Daniel José Older, Yamile Saied Méndez, Anna-Marie McLemore, Mark Oshiro, Romina Garber, David Bowles, Lilliam Rivera, Claribel Ortega, Isabel Ibañez, Sara Faring, Maya Motayne, Nina Moreno, Vita Ayala, J.C. Cervantes, Circe Moskowitz, Linda Nieves Pérez, and Zoraida Córdova.

Soulswift


Megan Bannen - 2020
    Cloistered with the other Vessels of her faith, she believes—as all Ovinists do—that a saint imprisoned Elath the Great Demon centuries ago, saving humanity from earthly temptation.When Gelya stumbles into a deadly cover-up by the Ovinists’ military, she reluctantly teams up with Tavik, an enemy soldier, to survive. Tavik believes that Elath is actually a mother goddess who must be set free, but while he succeeds in opening Her prison, he inadvertently turns Gelya into Elath’s unwilling human vessel.Now the church that raised Gelya considers her a threat. In a race against the clock, she and Tavik must find a way to exorcise Elath’s presence from her body. But will this release stop the countdown to the end of the world, or will it be the cause of the earth’s destruction? And as Tavik and Gelya grow closer, another question lingers between them: What will become of Gelya?A dark, epic fantasy about a girl who must reevaluate everything she believes after she is betrayed and hunted by the religion that raised her—from Megan Bannen, author of The Bird and the Blade. Perfect for fans of The Winner’s Curse and The Girl of Fire and Thorns.

The Electric Kingdom


David ArnoldDavid Arnold - 2021
    Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico's father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark. The Electric Kingdom is a sweeping exploration of art, storytelling, eternal life, and above all, a testament to the notion that even in an exterminated world, one person might find beauty in another.